The primary goal of the Arizona Biology Network (ABN) is to increase the number of underrepresented minority students who obtain Baccalaureate degrees in the biomedical and behavioral sciences in the State of Arizona. Over the 10 years of its existence, the program grew into a cooperative effort between the 3 State universities and 20 community colleges in Arizona and one college in New Mexico that is on the Dine reservation. The proposed project will focus its efforts on those institutions that have yielded the most fruitful partnerships in terms of the numbers of applicants, participants and transfer students success. Community college students and faculty will participate in summer research projects in the laboratories at the University of Arizona. There is solid evidence to support the fact that undergraduates who conduct research are more likely to pursue and complete graduate studies, and it is hoped that the student participants in the ABN will emerge as leaders in science and work toward lessening health disparities between ethnic groups in this state. During the academic year, these students will have the opportunity to tutor at their local community college. As tutors, they will serve as role models and peer mentors to other minority students who may be potential recruits to the ABN. The tutors, while enhancing their own academic competitiveness, will also contribute to the enhancement of the overall learning environment at the community colleges. Each student will be assigned to a faculty mentor at his or her community college or at the university to which they transfer. The objectives of the proposed project are to 1) improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the recruiting process; 2) improve networking with community college recruiters/coordinators and University of Arizona faculty/sponsors in preparation for the summer program; 3) improve the effectiveness of the summer research experience and encourage continuation of involvement in research after the summer; 4) improve mentoring, advising and tracking of the ABN students; 5) improve the learning environment at the community colleges. The anticipated outcomes of these objectives include an increase in the quality of the applicant pool and increased program efficiency. The aforementioned objectives, when achieved, will bring about significant progress toward the National Bridges to the Baccalaureate goal of a 90% transfer rate and 70% completion rate by the year 2009. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]